The present invention relates to an airbag for a rear-end collision and an airbag apparatus for a rear-end collision for absorbing an impact, for example, from a rear part of a vehicle.
In an airbag apparatus for a rear-end collision disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-362284, a folded airbag is contained in the rear end section of a vehicle between a roof panel and a roof headlining of the vehicle. At the time of the actuation of the airbag apparatus, the airbag is inflated and deployed in the back of the backmost section seat of the vehicle by gas supplied from an inflator.
In the apparatus described in the above-mentioned publication, the gas from the inflator is introduced into the airbag from one place of a center section of the airbag in the lateral direction of the vehicle. In addition, the roof headlining is typically installed in the vehicle with its peripheral section caught by a roof section of the vehicle.
For this reason, the center section of the roof headlining in the lateral direction of the vehicle tends to flex by the greatest amount. Therefore, at the time of the actuation of the airbag apparatus, the airbag can start inflation and deployment from the center section in the lateral direction of the vehicle in an accommodated location. That is, it is difficult to control a deployment form of the airbag properly such that the airbag expands uniformly over in the entire lateral direction of the vehicle from the accommodated location.